Walking courier uses public transport to deliver shipments in Auckland’s central business district

DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider, is trialling a new walking courier service to deliver lightweight shipments and documents in Auckland’s Central Business District (CBD). This service ensures DHL Express transit time promises are upheld despite increased complexities traversing city streets due to more construction and reduced parking.

Commenting on the trial, Mark Foy, Country Manager, DHL Express New Zealand said: “Our drivers are finding it increasingly challenging to deliver shipments to some city locations, so we are piloting this solution.

“The CBD Walker will help to ease the pressure on our city drivers who have to deal with increased construction and limited parking in some areas. This will also cater to greater volumes leading up to Christmas, as our walking courier will be able to manoeuvre through the city streets making deliveries.

“This also contributes to our ongoing environmental focus under our GoGreen program, as another way to reduce our carbon footprint.”

The CBD Walker catches the train from Morningside Station to Britomart Station and delivers shipments predominantly to large business customers. DHL Express will also soon implement a trial in Wellington using a similar concept with the walking courier travelling via bus.

Mark added: “We’ve had a walking courier in Manhattan’s business district in New York for a while and it’s really effective in delivering lightweight packages to corporate offices. We hope the New Zealand trial is equally as successful and will become a permanent element to our delivery fleet of courier vans. The initial feedback has been fantastic.”

This follows a recent investment in building an expanded DHL Express gateway facility at Auckland Airport. Officially opened in August, this NZ$15.3 million (€9.9 million) facility is part of the company’s global investments to bolster network connectivity and provides direct access to the tarmac to allow DHL Express to process freight as soon as it arrives into the country.

As the company’s major international hub in New Zealand, the expansion helps to support businesses to import and export goods and follows significant double digit growth in international shipment volumes.